Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2017, 53(3): 343-368 | DOI: 10.13060/00380288.2017.53.3.335

Place Belonging in a Mobile World. A Case Study of Migrant Professionals

Agnieszka Bielewska, Krzysztof Jaskułowski
SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Wrocław

The aim of this paper is to discuss the impact of spatial mobility on international professionals' experience of place belonging. Drawing on qualitative research carried out in the Wroclaw subzone of the Walbrzych Special Economic Zone in Poland, the article explores the question of the identity of migrant professionals in the context of their connection with places. It analyses how migrant professionals perceive both their place of origin and the place they currently inhabit and considers the specific practices migrants engage in to strengthen old bonds and establish new ones. Despite their high mobility, migrant professionals cannot always be described in terms of placelessness belonging. On the contrary, migrant professionals show a relatively strong connection to their place of origin and some of them attempts to form ties with their current place of stay.

Keywords: transnational professionals, highly skilled migrants, belonging, place, Poland

Published: June 1, 2017Show citation

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Bielewska, A., & Jaskułowski, K. (2017). Place Belonging in a Mobile World. A Case Study of Migrant Professionals. Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review, 53(3), 343-368. doi: 10.13060/00380288.2017.53.3.335.
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